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Lee delays FSA writing test for more grade levels

After many students had trouble logging into the computerized testing system early Tuesday morning, the district declined to administer all tests that were not successfully started by 9 a.m. Tenth graders were already excluded from testing Monday until the district is "confident" the technical issues have been resolved.

Lee delays FSA writing test for more grade levels

The list of Lee County students who have not taken the FSA test has grown longer.

The district decided to pull the plug on all tests that were not successfully started by 9 a.m. Tuesday after many students had trouble logging into the test. Tenth-graders were already excluded from testing until the district is "confident" the technical issues have been resolved.

District spokeswoman Amity Chandler said it was difficult to estimate the number of students who were not tested because not all Lee schools were scheduled to administer the test Tuesday. Eighth-graders were the group most widely affected by the decisions, she said.

Testing went more smoothly in Collier County, said district spokesman Greg Turchetta. He said the district has not experienced the issues that have plagued many districts across the state.

More than 150,000 students across the state — 23 percent of students scheduled to be tested — had taken the test as of Tuesday night, according to the Department of Education.

Education Commissioner Pam Stewart wrote in a letter to superintendents that the test's vendor had "taken full responsibility for the issues" and was working "around the clock" to resolve them.

"While we cannot guarantee that some users will not encounter similar issues (Wednesday), I also do not want to prevent any districts who have had success from continuing their testing tomorrow," Stewart wrote.

More than a quarter of all Florida superintendents expressed concerns about the new FSA test in late February after the DOE asked districts to perform a "load" test to ascertain whether their systems could handle the testing load, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

Lee and Collier superintendents were among those who raised concerns about the FSA test, which replaced the FCAT tests used in the past.

"(The FSA) is being administered for the first time as a computer-based assessment, when neither the assessment or the state and local infrastructure to administer the assessment have been thoroughly field tested," wrote Kamela Patton, Collier's superintendent, in her report to the DOE.

Nancy Graham, Lee's superintendent, wrote in her report to the DOE that she would be "naive" to think there would be no potential for challenges.

"We have completed the infrastructure trial as directed. This is the only guarantee represented by my signature," Graham wrote.

Sen. Jeff Clemens and Sen. Dwight Bullard called the first day of the new test a "disaster for school districts and students across the state."

"We are calling on you to immediately suspend the administration of these tests and allow time for educators to work out the problems, instead of using our children as guinea pigs for a flawed system," they wrote in a letter to Gov. Rick Scott.

When asked about the request shortly after his annual State of the State speech to the Legislature, Scott did not answer and instead noted that last week he issued an executive order suspending the 11th-grade version of the test known as the Florida Standards Assessment.

The standardized tests are crucial because officials use them to decide everything from who graduates to whether students are held back in the third grade. This year's tests — which are being used for the first time — are based on the Common Core standards that have sparked opposition from some parents and teachers in Florida and other states.